Five Minutes
by l'Cie Wolf
Summary: Hope and Snow go hunting for a Mark in Sulyya Springs and events turn intimate. Told from Hope's POV. Snow/Hope one-shot fluff.


**Disclaimer:** Neither Snow or Hope belong to me blah blah characters of Final Fantasy XIII blah blah Nomura blah Amano blah

**Note:** Inspired by a prompt on the Sulyya Springs LJ community.

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The Cie'th stone had said that the Mark was in Sulyya Springs. The others had left the Cie'th stone to me and Snow – apparently they were too busy with a "Chocobo-related disaster" and this Mark was too dangerous to leave unchecked. However, we'd been searching for over an hour and hadn't seen anything other than mobs of Ceratoraptors and Ceratosaurs.

"Hey, Hope, how about we take a break?"

Snow was sat with his feet dangling above the spring water, leaning back on his arms. I placed myself down next to him, watching the spring water sparkle in the sunlight. Small fish swam around in the water, darting left and right erratically. I smiled as I watched them. So small, so insignificant, so peaceful. I sighed. Snow moved up next to me.

"What's wrong, kid?"

"Nothing. Just... these fish. They're so small. They have nothing to worry about. I miss feeling like that. Now the fate of Cocoon is down to us and it's....it's too much, Snow." He placed his hand on my shoulder. My heart skipped a beat.

"What is it Serah used to say? Face it later. Just focus on what we have to do now. That's all that matters, right? After we're done with this we can meet with the others and go be heroes, but right now we need to find our Mark." I nodded.

"Alright then, back to search-"

"What's that?"

Snow was looking into the water but I couldn't see anything. The fish were gone. The water rippled.

"Why is it the water rippling? I can't see anything."

"There!" Snow pointed to my left. There was a black blur.

"Y'think that's our Mark?" I asked, slowly getting to my feet. I drew my Boomerang from my pocket. It automatically unfolded in my hand.

"Maybe. Didn't look too tough though. The Cie'th stone said it was dangerous but this thing...." He stood up and took off his coat and bandanna.

"Snow, what are you doing?" He jumped into the Spring, splashing me with water. He waded in further, studying the water for our Mark.

"I don't think you're going to find any-LOOKOUT!"

Snow turned around. A jet black shape streaked through the water towards Snow. He stood his ground – it collided with him, took him down, under the surface of the Spring. The water in front of me exploded. Snow soared out of the water and crashed painfully behind me. He was followed by the black shape. A Sahagin.

Its wet scales glistened in the sunlight. It darted forwards, taking me off guard. I fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of water. The Sahagin crashed down upon me, knocking the wind out of my chest, rabidly screeching at me, biting the air above me. I had dropped my Boomerang when it attacked me, so I raised my right arm to defend myself. I felt its jaws closed around my arm. I screamed in pain. Energy burst from my body, propelling the Sahagin up into the air. I scrambled to my feet, looking for my lost weapon and saw Snow jump into the air, pulling a grenade out of his pocket. He grabbed the Sahagin and forced the grenade into its mouth.

It exploded before he could move away.

Snow plunged through the air and crashed into me. We fell to the floor. The burnt Sahagin corpse landed limply in the spring water.

His body was pressed tightly against mine and I was suddenly hyper aware of every feature. Of the way he was panting, regaining his breath back from the battle. Of the way his wet clothes clung to his body, outlining his muscular shape – and of the way he was pressing the lower part of his body against mine. His breath was warm and comforting on my face. His eyes were a brilliant bright blue, shining with energy and lust.

My right hand reached up towards his face, feeling out his features. His skin was soft and warm, his cheeks red from warmth or embarrassment. I traced my thumb across his lips – they parted slightly and Snow sighed. He closed his eyes and I felt him shuddering from my touch. He lowered his head and pressed his lips against mine.

I froze. My brain was telling me that this was wrong, that this shouldn't be happening...and yet my body was reacting to his touch. My heat was beating rapidly, my cheeks flushed red, my pants became tight and before I realised what I was doing I was kissing him back.

Snow raised his head, a smirk on his lips. I looked into his eyes, an uneasy look on my face. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away. He looked at me, confused.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't do this. It's not right. I'm fourteen and you....you're engaged. To Serah." A pained look formed on his face as I mentioned Serah's name. I stood up, dusting off my wet clothes. I was embarrassed, cold and horny and wanted to get as far away from the Springs as possible.

"The Mark is dead. We should go."

I turned my back on him, trembling slightly. Right now I needed to get into some warm and dry clothes. I walked away from him.

"Wait! Hope....none of that matters right now. Right now, all that matters is you and me. This doesn't have to mean anything. We can just stay here and make each other feel better and leave being a hero until tomorrow. All we need right now is you and me."

I span on my heels, feeling surprised and angry.

"But....how can you say that? What if they find out? Do you have any idea what Lightning would do?! What any of them will do?! Snow, we _can't_ do this!" I stormed towards him until I was towering over him, my voice getting louder with each word. He looked up at me, defiant.

"Don't tell me what I already know, Hope! You don't have to threaten me with what the others would think! I _know_ that what I want to do to you is wrong but _I don't care_! I love Serah but I might not even see her again. We might find nothing in Oerba that will help us to escape our fates. We might die here, or become Cie'th! There's a very high chance that I will _never_ see Serah again! So please, Hope – lets just forget about everything. Just for five minutes. Please."

I said nothing, surprised by his outburst. He was right. We might not find a thing in Oerba. We might not _ever_ make it back to Cocoon and see our loved ones again. But we could make ourselves forget, for just five minutes. I crouched down in front of him and kissed him tenderly on the forehead.

"Okay. Just five minutes."


End file.
